[officialtony]

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1) B swings mightily & the bat accidentally slips from his hand, flying 20 feet into the infield toward the C position [& thus not coming close to hitting anyone]: is this a "carelessly" thrown bat?

2) On-deck batter picks up his predecessor's stick and tosses it toward the corner of fence and dugout, after making sure that there is no-one in the vicinity: is this "careless", or more likely, an "intentionally" thrown bat?

3) B walks, and on his way toward 1stB, releases his bat, not merely to the force of gravity, but with a slight lateral impetus, which causes it to "fly" 5 ft, and then roll 10 more, coming into the path of and incidental contact with [but causing no harm to] the next batter, advancing to the plate, who sees it and returns it to the dugout [we'll pass for the moment, on whether he uses the proceedure in 2, above]. As you understand the wishes of the FED folk, are we to issue a warning, or eject upon the second occurance, for that?


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Okay I covered 1. It's carelessly thrown. If he were being careful he would not have let it " accidentally " land 20 feet in the infield.

2. Since you said he tossed it towards the corner of the fence and the dugout, he must have carefully and with intent sent it there, thereby removing carelessnes as an option. You said it in your statemtnt - " he tossed it towards . . " - intent, with care IMHO.

3.Here again he allows the bat to go towards his own dugout, by his choice. He didn't carelessly toss it not being concerned with where it went. He was sure it went towards his dugout ( assuming the on-deck batter was near his own dugout )causing the belief that care was taken not to throw it " with a slight lateral impetus " towards his opponents dugout, or anywhere else other than his own dugout area.

What are you really looking for here?
Careless should be the easiest judgment call you would have to make and the easiset to enforce. Who will argue with a decision that the thrown bat was a jeopardy to the individual it hit or landed closest to? I don't understand your reluctance to make this call.